Katniss in Chicago
by EruditeGryphon
Summary: Katniss Everdeen,the little Abnegation huntress, finds out that she is DIVERGENT and has adventures with Tori, George, Gale, Finninck, Johanna, and Peeta in her chosen faction, as she struggles to find herself.


As the sun rises in my family's little Abnegation hut, my little sister Prim's cat hisses at me. He should be dead- if our faction leaders knew about him, he most certainly would be dead. Pets are RANK with self-indulgence. Not that I haven't imagined killing the lynx a couple of times. He's quite plump, not unlike the meat that we put in stew, and his pelt would fetch a pretty price in the Hob, which is where I illegally sell goods to support my family. But as much as Prim has been through in the last year, letting her keep the cat seem liked a small enough matter.

Buttercup- that's his name- hisses at the sunlight as though it displeases him. "I can't blame you, you ugly thing." I say. "With the choosing today, I can't say that I'm too happy about the sun coming up either." He growls and runs out the house "in a huff," as the Amity girls say. I smile a little. He didn't eat the cheese Prim put out for his breakfast. More food for Gale and me.

Gale is my best friend in the world. He's skilled in the woods, smart, handsome (though I don't notice it very much) and about as Abnegation as they come. He gave up school all but two days a week to work in the mines and hunt for his family. No doubt what his aptitude result will be. It's my selfish soul that doesn't know what faction she will join tomorrow.

I race to the fence that lines our city. It starts by the Hub, which is basically city hall, as a giant brick wall lined with barbed wire. By the time it reaches the Abnegation sector, it is nothing by a few chain links that is easy to break into. At this time every week, Gale and I breech the fence and enjoy a pastime that even that proud, fearless Dauntless don't. We are going beyond the boundaries of our city to hunt.

He meets me with a fine looking rabbit in his hands. It is plump, not messy, and has a beautiful pelt. Gale tosses the thing at me, and it lands at my feet. "Hey Catnip," he says. The name is an old joke between us. The first time we ever spoke, I told him my name, which is Katniss, so quietly that he heard "Catnip". When he found out about Buttercup, the name just stuck. In the three years we've known each other, the name is the strongest sign of our bond. So I never complain about it.

Gale is talking now, but I am so worried about the test at school today that I don't hear him. "Katniss," he says. "Don't freak about the test. Trust the test. It tells you what you need to do with your life and I know that you will be right here tomorrow and the next day and the next week and forever. So don't stress out about it."

I wish that I could tell him that he was right. Instead, I tell him, "Gale, just eat your cheese and shut up." He laughs. "There's my grumpy Katniss. Welcome back." I smile back and try to talk of light things until school starts, trying not to show my worry about the test.

The Aptitude test is a test given by the Erudite faction to every sixteen year old in the city. Because it is forbidden to talk about, nobody knows what it is like. All we know is that it is supposed to help us choose which faction we should live in for the rest of our life. The factions are Candor the honest, Amity the kind, Erudite the intelligent, Dauntless the brave, and Abnegation the selfless. They were formed to help people find where they belong. Until I take the test, I have no idea which one I am suited for. That's why we have it.

Each faction also has a uniform. The Candor wear black and white, the Amity wear yellow and red, the Erudite wear blue, the Dauntless black, the Abnegation gray. Don't ask me what our wardrobe has to do with our personality, because I don't know. But they didn't ask me what rules to make when they formed the factions.

Classes are cut in half today, because the test will take up all, if not more, of the other half. They will call us into the special testing rooms that are used on no other day but this one. Our whole society is based off of the test, so there is supposedly "the most high tech equipment" in these secret rooms.

As I leave my maths class, a crowd of Dauntless run over me. "Sorry _Stiff,"_ a gorgeous boy about my age says. "You kind of blend in with the wall in that gray get up. Would you like to come with me to a janitor's closet to _remove_ it?" I turn bright red, and keep walking. "Whoa, Finnick! You just got blown off by a Stiff!" his friend says. "Shut up Johanna," he says. "She's obviously not ready for _this._" He strikes a ridiculously provocative pose. My tread speeds up, not stopping until I sit down next to a silent Gale in the cafeteria. The Dauntless crowd follows me, staring me down until Gale stops them with a glare of his own. "I don't want to know what you did to annoy the Dauntless, but I want to ask you to not do it again." he says. "I was just being an obedient Abnegation citizen when the golden haired boy ran over me and tried to flirt," I answer. "Did it work?" Gale asked.

"Not quite."

"Good," he says. "Finnick Odair needs to be turned down every once and a while." We stop talking again, because this is too much idle chatter for an Abnegation table. Besides, they are about to start calling us for the tests. Time to focus on the matter at hand.

An Amity woman goes up to the front of the cafeteria and introduces herself as Effie Trinket. She wears a wild pink dress. "It's a big big big big day for all of you, so let's get started!" she says. "Gale Hawthorne and Johanna Mason!" Finnick's friend Johanna and Gale get up to go to their testing room. Gale offers a small smile and leaves. Just like that.

Three hours later, it's just me and an Amity boy. We can't start a conversation because we don't know each other and it's not customary to start conversations with member of other faction. So we just sit there in silence until Effie calls my name. Then he does something unexpected. As I walk out the door, he flashes me a big thumbs up and mouths the words, "Good Luck." I offer a small smile in return, but I don't react much more outwardly. Inside, worry is bubbling over, worry about what if I get Abnegation and I'm stuck with people who don't really like me, worry about what if I don't get Abnegation and I will have to leave Prim. Worry about what kind of test it is, if it's physical or mental or what. By the time I reach the room that I will test in, my hands are wet with sweat and my head is about to explode.

A Dauntless man meets me there. He introduces himself as Amar, and immediately begins to work, plugging me up to wires, programming the computer, pouring a glass of a clear blue drink.

Pouring a drink?

Amar hands me the cup and says, "Don't worry Miss Everdeen. This won't hurt a bit. Just drink the liquid." I swallow the drink and doze off to sleep.

Two baskets are in front of me, one containing cheese, the other a knife. "Choose," Amar's voice says. "I can't," I answer. "Fine," he says, "Have it your way." Suddenly, a wild dog appears. His mouth is foaming like he has rabies and I know that if he bites me, something terrible will happen to me. I run, but he is faster. The mongrel catches up to me almost instantly. I somehow manage to conjure up my bow and arrow and shoot him. The arrow found his heart and the mutt will not recover.

Then the city is gathered together in the square. A woman in ridiculous dress is on the stage and in front of her sit two giant balls full of paper. The people of the city seem to be separated by age; twelve through eighteen year olds are herded into a roped off area, the rest of the population just stands there. Suddenly the woman, who looks a great deal like Effie Trinket and sounds like her too, says "Ladies first", and pulls a name out of the ball on her left. "Primrose Everdeen," she says.

I get the sense that Prim has been chosen for something terrible and I can't stand it so I scream, "I volunteer! I volunteer!"

Then I am in the woods, looking for someone. "Katniss! Katniss!" a voice calls out. "I'm coming!" I holler back. A small girl is trapped under a net, with a strong looking boy standing over her. He pulls a bloody spear out of her stomach and I don't hesitate to shoot him. How could he murder such an innocent girl? The arrow finds his neck, and he keels over dead immediately.

The girl is calm and only has one dying request: "Can you sing?" I sing her a lullaby that has been around for years, from before the factions. She closes her eyes and smiles as her body turns cold. I then cover her body in flowers so that her death will not go unnoticed.

Then, I wake up. Amar runs from the room looking terrified. How badly could I possibly have done? Is it possible that I am unfit for any of the factions? He comes back, fake smile plastered on his face. "Miss Everdeen, your results were inconclusive. Unlike most people, who find their faction by eliminating all the factions but one throughout the test, as you went through the test, you opened up _more _options for your faction choices. They call it Divergent, and it is extremely dangerous.

You have an aptitude for Erudite for knowing _where _to shoot the man and the dog, Amity for your flower-decorating on the girl's body and your singing for her as she died, Abnegation for volunteering, and Dauntless for your skills with the bowl Don't tell anyone about this. I've manually logged your test results in as Dauntless. **Don't let them find out about you. **Now go."

I leave then, feeling as lost as I did before I went in.


End file.
